Part 3 — Chapter XX THE PRACTICAL USE OF HYMNS

I. THE HYMN AS A MEANS TO AN END

While our discussion attempts to consider every phase of the Christian hymn, its chief interest to us lies in it as a means to an end. It may be a work of literary art, the expression of a noble genius admirable in itself; it may be an interesting epitome of some noble doctrine that calls for appreciation of its lucidity and comprehensiveness; but for us its primary quality must be its adaptation to meet spiritual needs, in other words, its usefulness in religious work. In some way it must help in the work of the church, if it is to come within the sweep of our present horizon.

II. ANALYSIS OF PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF HYMNS

There are two values in the singing of hymns that must needs be taken into consideration: one is the sheerly musical or nervous value; the other is the message or burden of the hymn. The two must co-operate for the best results.

There are two lines of application in using hymns: the one is the expression and further intensification of an existent religious feeling; the other, the creation of religious interest or emotion where none exists. The two types of hymns must be clearly distinguished, if proper and efficient use is to be made of them.

The first type is worshipful, religiously emotional, based on 249 personal experience, tenderly meditative. The second is didactic, inspirational, or hortatory.

III. THE USE OF HYMNS FOR CREATING RELIGIOUS INTEREST

In selecting hymns for the opening of a religious meeting, the existing nervous and emotional condition of the congregation is an important factor. That condition may be due to an unlimited number of influences. Are they gathering under the open sky, in a tent, in a rough tabernacle, or amid churchly surroundings? What is the character and background of the assembled people? In a distinctly unreligious environment, the crowd will be disorganized, in a nervous flutter, in a secular state of mind, more consciously interested in securing a desirable seat than in the purpose of the meeting. The people need to be psychically organized as a unit, need to have their attention concentrated on the occasion of the meeting, need to be brought into a religious state of mind. There is nothing better than the singing of a hymn to secure these very essential results. The unifying effect of common action, the nervous calming of the music, the religious suggestiveness of the hymn itself, all will co-operate in creating the proper attitude of mind.

What hymn shall we use to secure such a diversified result? Shall it be “My faith looks up to Thee,” or “O Love that wilt not let me go”? They are both superexcellent hymns, but they would be utterly out of place. They belong to the first type, the expression of existent religious feeling; but there is little or no such feeling under the proposed circumstances. The people are not in a state of mind to sing them sincerely and earnestly. It would lead to the all too common hypocrisy of indifference.

Moreover, the tunes to these hymns are not of the organizing or stimulating type, fine as they are. They are tunes of expression 250 of existing feeling, not of exhilaration or inspiration.

For such a miscellaneous crowd as has been described, a much less emotional hymn with a somewhat livelier tune is called for, such as “Blow ye the trumpet, blow,” “Come, we that love the Lord,” or “Onward, Christian soldiers.” In most cases a lively Gospel song, such as “Sunshine in my soul,” “Rescue the perishing,” or even, in extreme cases, “Brighten the corner where you are” is more effective. The problem is not so much that of making a religious impression, as of preparing the people to receive a religious impression. To use tender, deeply emotional, profoundly spiritual hymns for such preliminary treatment is to flout psychology.

If the congregation meets in a church or other distinctly sacred edifice, the religious associations will simplify the problem. In part, at least, the secular attitude will have given place to a hospitality of mind for religious ideas and impressions. Under favorable circumstances the nervous strain will relax and religious susceptibilities will begin to function. These nervous and mental transformations of mood will be deepened by the organ prelude, if that has been wisely selected and effectively played.

In some conservative, devout congregations where solemn earnestness is the prevailing mood, and the bowed head on entering the pew is not a mere convention, the usual Doxology may be used after the call to worship; but usually an introit, such as “The Lord is in His holy temple” or “Oh, come, let us worship,” sung by the choir, will be the wiser preparation for the preacher’s invocation. The “Gloria Patri” should prepare the congregation for some solemn hymn of profound worship, such as “My God, how wonderful Thou art,” or “Lord of all being, throned afar.” By the time this is sung, the members of the congregation should be united in sympathy and responsiveness to the worshipful exercises that follow.

If the service is to be a joyous one, with an aggressive purpose, 251 the hymns should still be strictly worshipful, but more animated. “Come, sound His praise abroad,” “Oh, worship the King, all-glorious above,” or “Kingdoms and thrones to God belong” should be the unifying spiritualizing agency.

But if the social instincts are allowed to find expression as the people gather, and more or less furtive conversation and even gossip are heard, or worse yet, if the Sunday school has overflowed into the auditorium or, for lack of separate room, has occupied it, and the going out of the school and the coming in of the congregation make a confusion that submerges the hallowed associations of the place, a much more difficult problem is faced, and a more conscious effort must be made to prepare the people in mind and heart for the experience of the hour.

The prelude must be calculated to cover disturbing sounds and to call the people to order—an entirely different type of prelude from that used in the previous hypothetical situation. Once quiet and order are secured, the music may begin a quieter, more religious movement. But the high ecstasy of the Long Meter Doxology is out of the question. An earnest Call to Worship by the preacher, and a quiet sentence or introit by the choir, will hush the people’s minds into sympathy with the invocation, that may possibly be somewhat longer and more earnest, which in turn will prepare them for a sincere and thoughtful participation in the “Gloria Patri.” The wise and observant preacher will have been able to anticipate their state of mind and decide whether they are ready to Sing with sincerity “O day of rest and gladness,” “Safely through another week,” or the more elevated “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” or “Before Jehovah’s awful throne.”

By the time this hymn is sung, the fate of the service has practically been settled. The people will have been won and are ready to go on to a deeper interest and to a fuller yielding of themselves to the influence of the service; or they are dull 252 and unresponsive, even somnolent, with an unconscious resentment that they have not been stirred and quickened. The failure of the service is assured, unless a miracle happens.

If the minister is a slave to the conventional order of service, that miracle will not happen. He may be so complacent over the smooth unfolding of the wonted numbers as not to recognize that the interest in the minds of his people has dropped.

In such a situation the best means to redeem it is a hymn with a profound appeal. But it cannot function, if it is used in the ordinary, conventional way. If the minister is alert and senses the stupor that is shadowing the minds of his people, and if the success of his service is more important to him than the mechanical regularity of the usual order of events, he can bring the miracle to pass by the use of the next hymn in an unexpected, thrilling way.

If the scheduled hymn does not lend itself to his purpose, he can exercise the audacity without which no public man can hope to succeed, by changing it to one that will, and by that act will storm the first defense of Morpheus, the god of sleep. Of course, he will always keep in mind practical considerations of teamwork with his musical helpers, taking enough time in introducing the substituted hymn in an interesting way to enable them to find it and decide to what tune it is to be sung. Usually that takes but a moment. Announcing the hymn, he will explain the message of the hymn in doctrine or in feeling, as a preliminary to its intelligent and sympathetic singing; or he may make emotional comment, or relate a fitting anecdote that will grip the feelings, leaving historical data for some other occasion; or he may ask the congregation to join him in silent prayer for divine guidance into the heart of the hymn to be sung; or he may ask his people to read the first verse in concert, in order that they may sing it with more intelligence; or if he has a sympathetic soloist, he can ask him or her to sing a verse, letting the people sing the rest of the hymn.

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If the people are submerged in indifference and stupor, he may treat the whole hymn in like fashion, verse by verse, always careful to make his few words count, for prolixity will defeat his purpose. He will be even more careful that there shall be a crescendo movement of increasing impressiveness and deepening feeling.

Such a jolt to the passive attitude of an unresponsive people, genially administered in a confident manner, and with sincere feeling, will waken the most indifferent congregation and avert the impending defeat. It will make the frequent use of such unusual methods unnecessary by creating a latent expectation of the unexpected.

Fortunate is the minister who has a native sensitiveness to the tides of feeling that ebb and flow in his congregation, to whom the faces and attitudes of his people are an open book. Most ministers must develop such a power by keen and persistent observation and by intelligent experimentation. This psychical en rapport is very important to the minister. As well might an organist play without hearing his instrument as for a minister to be ignorant of the states of feeling of his congregation. He is a blind man trying to paint a picture.

Some ministers think themselves lacking in magnetism, in sensitiveness to outside influences, and make no effort to develop their latent powers. This inferiority complex is wrong; the very sense of limitation is a proof that the capacity for it exists. It is too essential to the largest success that a man should not use every possible effort and method to develop it.

IV. THE HYMN AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR TEACHING TRUTH

Another practical use of the hymn that will prove very valuable is to make those hymns that are didactic or meditative the occasion of discussing for a few minutes the doctrines they express, and so to teach, to bring back to memory, or to vitalize the articles of their faith which average Christians are apt to 254 forget. There are Christian beliefs that do not call for elaborate discussion in a sermon, that are best impressed by emotional treatment in connection with a hymn. “Depth of mercy! can there be,” with a background of pure-minded Charles Wesley’s consciousness of sin, will give an opportunity of impressing the people with sin’s subtle and soul-destroying power. “There is a fountain filled with blood” will be the basis of a very short but a clear and tender exposition of the atonement made for sin by Christ on the cross. That a person may be conscious of salvation, of acceptance by God through Jesus Christ, will find fitting explanation in an exposition of “Rock of Ages, cleft for me.” What better opportunity for emphasizing the Christian’s dependence on Christ could be afforded than a study of “Jesus, Lover of my soul”? Our inability to understand the ways of God’s providences, and our need of a faith that does not demand explanations, may well be stressed in an analysis of “God moves in a mysterious way.” A score of such hymn discussions at irregular intervals during the year would prove illuminating, and help to remove the haze that prevents clear definition in the minds of the people of the doctrines on which their spiritual life must rest. Singing the hymn after such comments will make it more effective and fasten the Christian teachings in the minds of the hearers with links of steel.

V. HYMN SERMONS AND HYMN SERVICES

The versatile and adaptable preacher, full of resources, quick to take advantage of unusual methods, will find the Song Sermon, or rather the Hymn Sermon, a most attractive and impressive way of using hymns. Instead of finding an appropriate proof text from the Scriptures for each leading point of the discourse, search out a hymn, or a single verse, expressing it in a lucid and emotional way and have it sung by the congregation, by the choir, or by a soloist. Comment on the hymn and its illustration, consonant with the development 255 of the general theme, will supply a new line of most interesting materials. Care must be taken not to let the hymn hem the momentum of the sermon, but to make it add to the tide of interest. There will be no time for playing the tune or to find the hymn, while the preacher is silently waiting. Close connection and sharp attack are absolutely essential. Such a sermon will be sure to win a great hearing.[1]

A less formal use of hymns may be made in the Song (or Hymn) Service in which eight or ten hymns with historical, illustrative, and devotional comment are sung by soloists, choir, and congregation. Less valuable in formal teaching than the Hymn Sermon, it will probably win larger popular acceptance. Such a religious service should not be allowed to degenerate into merely a Sacred Concert.

VI. THE USE OF HYMNS IN EMERGENCIES

There are occasional disturbing and disorganizing occurrences during services—a violent storm, a noisy epileptic, a fanatical intruder, a fire where a panic would be disastrous—when it is important to keep the disturbance down to a minimum, or even to control the congregation. The singing of an efficient hymn is often the solution of the problem when there is a leader of presence of mind (preferably the minister) who will promptly start it. It must be a hymn that everybody knows; it must not be a tender, experiential hymn, but one with a stirring spirit to a stimulating tune that everybody can sing, such as “Onward, Christian soldiers.”[2]

Such occasions sometimes suggest fitting hymns that turn what might have been disaster into a spiritual victory. In such a case there must be a peculiar fitness to the difficulty, an adaptation to the form it takes. In case of a death, or paralytic stroke, the hymn will not be loud, but tender like “Rock of Ages,” “He Leadeth Me,” or “The Sweet By and By.” Softly sung, the episode will be turned from a shock into a deep spiritual impression.

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